Down With The Sickness
by Safaia
Summary: When the wolves seem to come down with the flu Stiles is very confused. The internet does not yield any answers but he is still worried. There is something going on that might have much more deadly consequences.


**Down ****With ****The ****Sickness**

Stiles pulled up to the front of the McCall household and checked his phone. Scott should have been waiting for him outside because apparently Stiles' Jeep has a very distinctive sound. There were no new text messages from Scott saying that he was running late so Stiles turned off the car. He spent far too much on gas being a personal chauffeur for werewolves that he did not need to waste it idling outside Scott's house. The full moon was tomorrow and usually the wolves got almost hyper around this time. Now they all had a reasonable amount of control. Scott was late and that was weird.

Nearly ten minutes passed before Scott stumbled out of his house and climbed into the Jeep. Stiles frowned deeply because Scott looked terrible. There was a light sheen of sweat on his forehead, his eyes looked glassy and unfocused, and he was pale. If it was anyone else Stiles would have assumed he had the flu but that made no sense. Scott's body should have been able to heal any normal virus.

"You look terrible, are you okay?" Stiles asked.

"I don't know," Scott replied and for half a moment Stiles thought Scott was going to throw up. "I feel like I have the flu."

"How is that possible? You don't need your inhaler anymore but you can't fight off a puny human virus?" Stiles asked. He turned the car back on and pulled away from the house when Scott did not seem like he was going to stay home. "Did someone get you with wolfsbane or something?"

"No," Scott said shaking his head. "This doesn't feel like that. I really just feel like I'm sick." Stiles hummed and focused on driving them to school. They were going to be cutting it a little close to first period but that did not mean Stiles was going to risk a speeding ticket that would inevitably get back to his dad. They pulled up to the school and Stiles had to catch Scott to keep him from falling over.

"Thanks," Scott mumbled.

"Do you want me to take you back home?" Stiles asked as they slowly made their way into the school. "If you're not feeling well you should just go home super healing or not."

"I can't miss anymore classes and it's not like I can go to a doctor to get an excuse," Scott said. "I'll be fine. I'm sure Erica is going to make fun of me but I can deal with it."

"I'll do my best to protect you dignity," Stiles said.

"Oh god I must be ill if it's come to that," Scott groaned.

"I'm hurt and offended." Stiles walked with Scott to his locker and did his best to help Scott get his things. They bought a water from one of the vending machines and Scott drank most of it in one go. They turned the corner to get to Stiles' locker when Stiles saw Isaac sitting on the ground in front of the locker. As they got closer Stiles realized that Isaac looked a lot like Scott did right now; pale, feverish, spacey, and a little green around the edges. He jumped when Stiles tapped his shoulder.

"Are you feeling sick too?" Stiles asked. "You should have heard and smelled us coming a mile away."

"I woke up feeling this way," Isaac said. "I haven't felt this bad since I got the flu two years ago. What's going on?"

"No idea," Stiles said. He put out a hand and helped Isaac to his feet; it was clammy but Stiles was not about to say something to anyone who looked that miserable. The first warning bell went off and both werewolves winced painfully like it was too loud. Their senses were completely out of control. Stiles was about to suggest they head for class so Isaac and Scott could sit down when Erica and Boyd came around the corner. They were leaning heavily on each other and Stiles immediately knew that they were sick as well.

"I thought this wasn't supposed to happen anymore," Erica said frowning deeply when she looked at Scott. "You too? I mean the three of us made a little sense because we more or less share a living space but you shouldn't have this too."

"I think we should look into this," Stiles said as he took in the miserable group before him. "I can handle another absence so why don't you three go to class so you can sit down and I'll go do some research, okay?" Normally none of them liked it when Stiles told them what to do but it spoke volumes about how sick they must have all felt that they nodded and left without complaint. Stiles gathered his things and went back out to his car. He could use the data plan on his phone for internet on his laptop which had enough battery that he could get some work done. It was surprisingly easy t o avoid the hall monitors and if he put his seat back he could avoid being seen through the windows of his Jeep.

Stiles had discovered, over the last year or so since Scott had been bitten, that 90% of the lore he found online was wrong. Usually it was just easier to go to Derek and see if he was in a sharing mood but if the beta's were sick there was a good chance that Derek was too. Stiles was not keen on dying because he interrupted a sick werewolf's beauty rest. He spent the next hour or so going over anything he could find online but the only thing he could find was that there was a lunar eclipse tonight. It was not surprising to find that there was nothing online that said how an eclipse affected werewolves so it looked like he had to go directly to the source after all.

Derek very rarely let his phone ring more than once, Erica had programed a truly awful ringtone and everyone always pretended that they did not know how to fix it, so when it hit the fifth ring Stiles was fairly confident that he was right about Derek not feeling well either.

"What do you want Stiles?" Derek said by way of greeting.

"Let me guess; you feel like crap right now," Stiles said and Derek scoffed over the phone. "So does the rest of the pack so do you want to tell me what's going on?"

"There is a lunar eclipse tonight," Derek said which was not helpful.

"Yes, I know, I can read things on the internet but I can't find anything that would explained the werewolf flu that is going around," Stiles said.

"My parents called it a 'lunar disease,'" Derek explained. He sounded too tired to argue about any of this right now. "And it happens every lunar eclipse. We're going to be fine, it'll pass once the eclipse is over, and then we'll move on." That made a little sense; a eclipse was not a normal full moon so that meant it would affect wolves differently. It would be interesting if everyone didn't sound like they wanted to keel over and die.

"So I'll bring the Dayquil and chicken noodle soup and we'll spend the night watching bad movies," Stiles said.

"You are going to stay home," Derek said.

"Why? What are a bunch of sick werewolves going to do, cough on me?" Stiles asked but Derek hung up on him. Stiles sighed and lay back in his seat. The wolves were going to be too weak to do anything else other than lie around so Stiles did not see the reason why he had to stay home. Then again Derek was already grouchy and the last thing he wanted to do was piss him off even more. Stiles gathered his things and made his way to second period.

* * *

When Stiles told the pack what was going on they are looked relieved and annoyed. He was not sure why; they were sick but it was only going to last twenty four hours. The last time he had the flu he was stuck in bed for nearly a week. Stiles rolled his eyes as they all pushed their food around their trays and went to find Lydia and Allison. Allison was not welcomed back into the pack yet but Lydia was slowly phasing herself back in. She and Stiles would come by every now and then, Lydia not nearly as often as Stiles did, and Lydia always found the full moons fascinating now that Jackson was not around for her to observe. Stiles was not sure if Allison even knew about the lunar eclipse though.

"Hey Lydia," Stiles said as he sat down at their table. She blinked once and stared at him like she could read his mind and get the information she needed without needing to have a conversation. It was awkward at first between the two of them. Lydia had sat down with him and explained just how weird it was that he bought her such an expensive birthday present. Hindsight is 20/20 and Stiles apologized for the way he spoke to her and for making her uncomfortable. The more he talked to her the more Stiles realized that he had placed Lydia on a pedestal that she could never live up to. She was beautiful, amazing, so smart, but she was not a flawless goddess. Lydia had faults just like the rest of them and even if Jackson was gone now it was not fair to her for him to continue chasing her. This last year Stiles felt like he had grown up a lot and his fading crush for Lydia that was slowly blooming into what he hoped would be a strong friendship was one of the major changes.

"Yes Stiles?" she asked.

"Can I talk to you for one quick second?" he asked. Allison frowned but took another drink of her water. Lydia raised an eyebrow and followed him away from the table so they were out of range. "Derek doesn't want us coming around tonight."

"Derek doesn't ever want us around but that's never stopped us," Lydia replied.

"Yeah but the lunar eclipse tonight is affecting them in a bad way. They aren't feeling so hot and I'm not one to argue with a sick alpha," Stiles explained.

"And you don't know if Allison knows this and you didn't want her to know the pack is weak," Lydia said thoughtfully and Stiles loved having conversations with people he did not need to explain everything to.

"Yeah so let's just get a good night's sleep for once and they'll feel better tomorrow. Then we can go and poke and prod them for all the interesting details," Stiles said smiling. Lydia smirked, nodded and went back to her seat at the table. Stiles went back to the wolves and tried not to make fun of them. Not too much anyway.

* * *

It was eight at night and Stiles was bored. It was not often that he got night's off from supernatural shenanigans so he did all of his homework for the week but was still out of things to do. He wanted to text Scott and see how he was doing but the pack tended to avoid electronics on the full moon after one too many broken phones. His dad was not home, none of his video games were fun single player and his Netflix queue had nothing appealing. Stiles considered going to bed early but decided to look into the eclipse some more. He had nothing else to do.

Stiles looked more into the eclipse itself instead of how it affected werewolves and it turned up some more interesting things. During an eclipse the moon would often take on a pink or red color. There were many things in lore about a 'red moon' but it was nothing that sounded good. Every time there was major bloodshed there was a red moon. People seemed to think that the red moon represented all of the blood that was being spilled that night. Stiles sat back in his chair and frowned. That did not make any sense; werewolves were too sick during a lunar eclipse to shed any blood. The logic did not sit right.

When Stiles realized what was going on he thought his heart was going to burst. Frantically he began to look through the various books he and Lydia had found over the last year. It said 'during the hunt the red moon will rise' which he had assumed meant the wolves were going to hunt but that was not the case. The hunter's were the ones that were going on a hunt tonight to shed wolf blood. That was why Derek did not want Stiles and Lydia around; he knew that they were too weak to protect themselves. The entire hunter population also knew that Derek was a Hale and therefore a werewolf so there was a chance the pack would be at the Hale House locked up for the eclipse. Stiles had to warn them that they could be in danger. He threw on his jacket, grabbed his keys, and raced out the front door.

There were three men standing near his Jeep and Stiles could see through the dark that they were armed. If he turned and ran back into the house he would end up with a bullet or an arrow in his back.

"Mr. Stilinski, how nice to see you tonight," one of the hunters said. They were not people that Stiles recognized so they were not one of the Argent's. These were different and they looked far too happy for hunter's that had just cornered a human. "Please don't run. That would make this complicated."

"I wasn't going to," Stiles said but he did not move from his spot. His dad was not due home for at least another four hours; full moons always brought out the crazies.

"Come here and let's have a chat," the leader said.

"I think I'm good where I am," Stiles replied. The leader pulled out a crossbow and pointed it at him. "Or I could come over there." Stiles raised his hands in the air and was doing his damndest to remain calm but there was a man pointing a crossbow at him so it was not easy. He felt safer around the wolves than he did around these three humans. Stiles stopped when they were arm's length apart. "I'm not taking you to the pack if that's what you're here for." The leader smiled and lowered his crossbow.

"Don't worry, Mr. Stilinski, we're not here for that either," he said. Stiles was about to ask why they were here then when the leader yanked him forward by his shirt and slammed him into his Jeep. It knocked the wind out of his lungs and idly he wondered why so many people were so keen on throwing him into things. The leader held Stiles there by his shirt as his two lankys flanked him from either side. "This is all part of the tradition."

"The tradition where you slaughter werewolves too weak to protect themselves?" Stiles asked which earned him another slam against his Jeep. The door handle was digging into the small of his back and was going to leave a bruise.

"Oh no, something more than that," the leader said. He released Stiles' shirt and that was when he threw the first punch. This was not his first fight, not by a long shot, and there had been a few more since Gerard but this man's fist felt like a sledgehammer. It nearly knocked Stiles straight off his feet and his ears began to ring right away. The next hit was to his stomach and this time Stiles fell to his knees coughing violently. His nose and lip were both bleeding; he wiped it away with the sleeve of his shirt. The leader twisted him around and a cloth was over his nose and mouth.

Now Stiles was more annoyed than anything else because he knew what chloroform smelled like. After the second time he had gotten kidnapped in some form Stiles decided that it was probably a good thing to be able to recognize. These guys were not here to teach him a lesson or to be a message; they were taking him. Stiles kicked and tried to get away but the two other hunter's subdued his flailing limbs. The world began to fade as the drug took effect, his body felt too heavy, and Stiles did not want to be saved again. He tried one last time to twist away before the world faded away.

* * *

The first thing Stiles realized was that he felt like he was going to throw up. He did not want to open his eyes because he knew the world would tilt at a horrible angle and he would lose his dinner. That was not exactly something he wanted to happen so Stiles debated the merits of keeping his eyes closed. He was outside, he could feel the dirt and smell the woods, and he could hear the three hunters talking quietly. There was another sound like someone could not catch their breath and it was not one of the hunter's. They were going to realize he was awake eventually and he did not want them to kick him. Stiles blinked up at the night sky and winced as he sat up.

One of the hunters had a gun pointed at him and grinned. Stiles glared and looked around. He was surprised to see Derek just a few feet away from him bound in thick shackles and surrounded by what looked like mountain ash. Derek also looked like he was going to pass out given how pale and sick he looked. He glanced at Stiles and shook his head. It was the barest of movements but Stiles knew Derek was trying to tell him not to do anything rash.

"Ah, Mr. Stilinski, I'm glad you're finally awake," the leader said. "You can call me 'Bill' for now."

"'For now?' Are you planning on telling me your real name sometime soon?" Stiles quipped and Derek glared at him.

"Eventually but not right now. Do you know why you're here?" Bill asked.

"I know you're taking advantage of the eclipse but I don't know why you need me. It's not like I'm a wolf," Stiles replied.

"You have a very important part of this tradition," Bill explained. "On every red moon we capture one wolf and one human that is important to the wolf. Then we send both of you out into the woods for the hunt. See, you're here to slow down the wolf, Mr. Stilinski." Stiles stared at the three hunters because it was one thing for them to hunt wolves but this time they were truly being tracked like animals. Out of all the wolves in the pack it made sense that they would take the alpha; if Derek died the pack would be significantly weaker. Out of all the humans that Derek interacted with it also made sense that they thought Stiles was the better choice.

"What if we refuse to play your game?" Stiles asked ignoring the way Derek growled. Bill took his gun from the holster and pointed it at Stiles' head. Bill's finger was on the trigger and Stiles wished he was around more people who knew the importance of trigger discipline. These hunter's were going to blow someone's face off when they really only meant to threaten.

"Don't shoot him," Derek said speaking for the first time. He sounded like he had garbled marbles. Bill smirked and dropped a key in front of Stiles.

"Unshackle him and we'll give you a thirty minute head start," Bill said. He hit a button his watch and Stiles knew that the thirty minutes started right now. He scrambled over to Derek and the shackles came undone easily. Stiles broke the line of mountain ash and before he could get a word in edgewise Derek took his hand and they raced off into the forest.

Apparently Derek could still run very fast because it took all of Stiles energy not to trip over a tree branch and die as they raced through the trees. For a minute Stiles was sure they were going to just outrun the hunters and everything was going to be fine. After a year of this crap he should have known better than to feel any optimism because Derek started to slow down until he stopped to lean heavily against a tree. It looked like he could barely stand and the eclipse was rising higher into the sky. Derek looked considerably worse than Scott and the rest of the pack did that afternoon.

"It's either affecting you more because you're the alpha or it's getting worse," Stiles said.

"It's just the eclipse not because I'm an alpha," Derek said. "We need to keep going though or they'll catch us."

"Let me help then," Stiles said. He took a step forward to take Derek's arm and try to take some his weight but Derek moved away from him. Stiles held up his hands and rolled his eyes. "I want to help so let me help."

"What we need to do is get you out of here," Derek said. He stood up straighter and began to walk through the woods. It was a slow enough pace that Stiles could keep up easily which was not a good sign. Usually when he was walking through the woods with werewolves they forgot that he did not have the super speed they had and would leave him in their dust. Stiles was about to call Derek out on this when something caught his eye. Stiles grabbed Derek's sleeve and yanked him back a few steps. "Stiles, what the hell?" Stiles knelt down and pointed; there was a trip wire stretching about five feet in front of them. They followed the line up a tree to a large net sitting directly above their heads.

"A trap," Stiles said. "They've been planning this." Derek growled and they both stepped over the wire. They picked their way through the woods avoiding traps that would cover them in nets to cutting someone in half. Stiles carefully stepped over a log but his foot did not touch the ground. Instead he stumbled and realized he was about to fall in a deep hole. Derek grabbed the back of his sweatshirt and they both fell back. Stiles looked over the log and found that it was lined with sharpened sticks that would have caused serious damage if he had fallen. "Thanks."

"No problem," Derek replied. They stood and Derek took one step before he stumbled. Stiles put his arm out to catch him. This time Derek let Stiles put his arm over his shoulder and take some of Derek's weight. Stiles could feel the heat coming off of Derek's skin, it felt like he was burning up from the inside out, and the more they stumbled the more of Derek's weight Stiles had to take.

The eclipse covered the entire moon and Derek shoved Stiles away so he could throw up black liquid when a wolf's body was trying to heal. It reminded Stiles far too much of the time Derek was poisoned with wolfsbane. This time there was not anything anyone could do to fix this. Derek was shaking and Stiles took his arm and helped Derek to his feet again. Stiles did not make any sarcastic remarks nor did he make fun of Derek being so dependent on him. Instead he walked them through the woods quietly until they got to a small stream. Derek sat down next to the water and washed his mouth out. Derek fell back against the ground and closed his eyes.

"We need to get your fever down. I don't really want to test the theory that werewolves can't boil their brains," Stiles said. He ripped some of his over shirt and dipped it in the cold water. He wrung it out and placed it over Derek's forehead; Derek practically moaned with relief and Stiles smiled. "You don't get sick often, do you."

"Not unless I'm poisoned," Derek replied without opening his eyes.

"I thought you guys were going to hold up in the subway or the basement, how did they get you?" Stiles asked. Derek tensed but he did not open his eyes. Stiles had a feeling that if he could open his eyes Derek would be glaring at him right now.

"They got me so it's not important how," Derek replied.

"It kind of is important. If there's a hole in the security we have in place it needs to be taken care of. If you were feeling like crap I don't think you would have gone for a lovely stroll or something," Stiles said. Derek did not look like he was going to answer anytime soon. Stiles sighed, put the rag in the water again and put it back on Derek's forehead. The woods were fairly quiet save for Derek's ragged breathing.

"It would be important if it was related to our security but it's not," Derek said. Stiles and Deaton had spent a good two days with Lydia setting up as much security as they could to keep the pack safe in the subway and the Hale House basement. That was the thing above all else that Stiles was worried about.

"How did they get you then?" Stiles asked. Derek opened his eyes for the first time and looked up at Stiles. They were sitting fairly close to each other so Stiles could keep the wet cloth to Derek's head.

"They called me," Derek said which was not an explanation. Stiles raised an eyebrow and gestured for Derek to continue. "They called me and said that they had you and if I didn't come out in the open they were going to kill you." Stiles froze because that could not be the reason. Derek would not put himself out there, weakened, into an obvious trap for him. Stiles swallowed the lump in his throat because it felt like he should say something but all of the words seemed to die on his tongue. Derek was staring at him like he expected Stiles to react to that somehow but did not know how either. They just stared at each other until Derek sat up far too quickly and stared off into the distance.

"Easy, buddy, what happened?" Stiles asked as he put a hand on Derek's chest to keep him from falling over.

"They found our trail," Derek said. Several things began to fly through Stiles' head at once. The hunters were gaining on them and there was no way they were going to get away with a sick werewolf. Stiles released Derek and pushed himself to his feet.

"Okay, I'll lead them off the trail," Stiles said.

"Wait, no, you can't do that," Derek said blinking.

"You're too weak to move and they probably won't kill me because I'm a human. I'm just here to slow you down. I'll get them off of your trail and you get better. It's a great plan," Stiles explained.

"No, it's a terrible plan and you usually have great plans. And 'probably'? That's not good enough for me, Stiles." Derek tried to stand but Stiles put a hand on his chest and easily pushed Derek back to the ground. Derek opened his mouth as if to say something but it was nothing Stiles wanted to hear. Instead he leaned forward and pressed his lips to Derek's in a soft kiss. It was gentle, barely there, and Stiles did not give Derek time to react before he pulled away. Derek's eyes were wide but it did not look like Derek was about to gut him so Stiles flashed a grin.

"Let me take care of you," he said. Stiles twisted away from Derek and started to run away. He could hear Derek struggling to follow him but Stiles knew that he was too weak to get up. Derek's voice began to fade as Stiles ran off into the night.

* * *

Stiles made sure that the hunters were following him. They had some way of tracking what traps had been triggered and Stiles made sure to trigger a few of them as he ran. He was laying out breadcrumbs for them to follow and he knew they would take the bait. Stiles just had to get them as far away from Derek as possible. If he lead them far enough off the trail then Derek might be strong enough to protect himself later. Stiles looped back around a few times, springing traps here and there and making sure to leave a trail, and made sure his trail from Derek was as covered as he could make it. In the distance he could hear Bill's voice and that they were gaining on him. Stiles stopped trying to make a trail and ran.

He considered himself a fit person what with lacrosse and having a bunch of werewolves for friends but it seemed that Stiles forgot that just because he was younger did not mean he was faster. Bill was gaining on him and the first time Stiles saw a crossbow bolt fly right by his head he started to panic a little. He tried to weave in and out of the trees so it was harder for them to hit him but that did not seem to matter. A crossbow bolt nicked his thigh and the hit was enough to throw off his balance. Stiles stumbled, tried to regain his footing, and hit the ground hard. His lungs felt like they were on fire and Stiles could feel blood running down his leg. It was a superficial wound, its purpose was to knock him off his feet and it did, and now Stiles heard three people surrounding him from all sides. Stiles sat up and saw Bill walking toward him.

"Decided you were better off on your own?" Bill asked. He tossed his empty crossbow to the side and pulled out a gun.

"Oh, you know how it is, werewolves are just so slow compared to us humans," Stiles replied.

"You would have been better off with the wolf," Bill said and he pointed the gun at Stiles' head. Stiles was a little surprised that Derek did not call him out on his lie; he did not think the hunters wouldn't kill him; he knew they were going to kill him. That was the entire point to this; they were going to kill him first so Derek would know he failed to protect someone in his pack. That sense of failure would make him reckless and they would go for the kill. Stiles had figured that out but he was fairly sure that Bill did not know he knew that. In the end it really did not matter anyway. Stiles thought that this was an okay way to die because the world needed a Derek much more than they needed a Stiles. Bill smirked as if he knew that Stiles had come to terms with the fact that he was going to die and flicked the safety off of his gun.

An arrow whizzed by and implanted itself in the tree near Bill's head. He turned his gun in the direction it had come from and the two other hunter's began to look around for others. Out of the darkness walked Allison and her father. Allison had an arrow in her bow and was ready to put it through Bill and Chris looked like he was trying to set the other hunter's on fire with his mind. It was suitably terrifying and Stiles once stared down an alpha werewolf.

"Gentlemen, what's going on here?" Chris asked though his tone was anything but casual.

"The red moon hunt of course," Bill replied. "We have the human side of the duo and once he's out of the way we're going to find the wolf."

"The red moon hunt was outlawed by the code years ago," Allison snapped. "Something about provoking wolves that might not have hurt anyone and killing humans."

"The code doesn't apply to this wolf or this human," Bill replied. "Once the human is in the pack he's turned on his own species."

"That sounds like you're trying to justify murdering a teenager in cold blood," Chris said. Stiles bit his tongue hard enough to draw blood because Chris had done that on a few occasions but it seemed like he might be saving Stiles' life so now might be a bad time to bring it up.

"Enough," Allison said before Bill could continue with a villain rant. "I am the matriarch of the Argent family and it's my call. My decision says that the code holds true for the red moon hunt and it would be in your best interests to leave town as soon as possible." Bill looked like he was about to argue when Allison let loose another arrow that missed Bill by inches. Bill glared at the Argent's but nodded to his friends. They holstered their weapons and Bill glared down at Stiles.

"Watch yourself Stiles," Bill warned and the three hunters vanished into the darkness. Allison waited a moment before she lowered her bow. She walked over to Stiles and offered him a hand which he took. His leg hurt and was still bleeding but it was not anything terribly serious; it was just going to hurt for awhile.

"Are you okay?" Allison asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, thanks for that," Stiles replied. She smiled and if he looked carefully Stiles could see the old Allison buried under all of that pain. "I won't take you to Derek though." The smile faded and Stiles was once again looking at the hunter named Allison.

"I know you won't but I'm going to assume you don't have a car," she said. Stiles nodded and she dropped her keys into his hands. "Fill up the gas tank and we'll call it even."

"How is that possibly even? Have you seen gas prices?" Stiles asked. Chris rolled his eyes but Allison laughed behind her hand. "Thank you though, really."

"You're welcome. We're going to make sure they actually leave town. Have a good night, Stiles." Chris said and he and Allison vanished into the night. Stiles listened until he was sure that they were gone and began to backtrack his way to Derek. He was not surprised to find that Derek had literally crawled away from the stream and had been following Stiles the entire time. When he looked up as Stiles walked closer Stiles could see how furious Derek was.

"Time to get you home big guy," Stiles said. He knelt down and pulled Derek to his feet ignoring the flare of pain in his leg.

"You're hurt," Derek said as they stumbled through the woods.

"Just a flesh wound. Allison and Chris swept in and saved the day," Stiles said and for half a second he was sure he felt Derek's claws start to come out. "They're off making sure Bill and his merry band get out of town. Allison even let us borrow her car. We're fine."

"You said you were going to be okay and you're not," Derek growled.

"Actually I am fine so it doesn't really matter." Stiles hoped that would be the end of the conversation. Derek must have been too tired to argue anymore because they walked to Allison's car in silence. There was a first aid kit in the back and Stiles hastily taped some gauze onto his leg so he would not bleed all over her seats. It was almost five in the morning by the time they pulled up to the Hale House. Stiles hoped his dad would assume he was asleep because the Jeep was still in the driveway. Derek looked better but he was still unsteady on his feet. At least he did not argue when Stiles took his arm and walked him toward the house.

"You shouldn't have done that," Derek said when they got to the door.

"They were going to kill us both so I figured I could slow them down at least," Stiles replied shrugging.

"I'm the one that's supposed to look after my pack. That's supposed to be my job." Derek was standing on his own two feet now but he was bracing himself against the door.

"Sometimes you need to let others look after the pack and that's what I did. We need a Derek a lot more than we need a Stiles," Stiles said. Something about the way Derek looked at him made Stiles' heartbeat jump in his chest. "It's not that I think I'm not important, you guys would be lost without me, but we need our alpha more. I made that choice and I don't regret it. You shouldn't feel bad because you couldn't look after me for once." Stiles shifted on his feet and landed on his leg wrong. He hissed in pain but when he looked back up Derek was tracing his cheekbone where Stiles knew there was a bruise.

"You're in pain," Derek said softly.

"I'll take care of it when I get home," Stiles replied as evenly as possible. The way Derek was looking at him was reminding Stiles far too much of how Derek looked at him after they had kissed. Derek moved his hand away from his bruised cheek bone and put a warm hand over the wound on his leg. Stiles was about to say how that hurt when suddenly it didn't anymore. Stiles blinked and looked down; Derek's veins were black and it was like the pain was being pulled from his body. It made him feel a little dizzy and relaxed in a weird way. Scott had mentioned this but this was the first time someone had ever done this to him. Stiles did not feel any pain anymore and when Derek pulled his hand away Stiles realized just how close they were standing.

"Thank you Stiles," Derek said. Stiles nodded and he was about to say something completely stupid like 'you should let me kiss you again' when the door to the house flew open and they were staring back at a pack of sick werewolves.

"Oh thank god you're okay," Scott said practically tackling Stiles into a tight hug. "When Derek got that call I thought he was going to tear the world apart." Scott pulled away and creased his eyebrows. "You're hurt."

"And you smell like you've been rolling around in sick sheets the entire night," Stiles replied easy as Scott pulled away from him. The entire pack seemed to have that sick, sour smell on them. "How about Derek explains what happened to all of you and I go get some sleep, okay?"

"Are you sure you're okay?" Isaac asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Derek's fine, and you'll all be fine in a few hours. I'll see you all tomorrow," Stiles said waving them off. Scott did not look entirely convinced and it looked like he wanted to ask more questions when he noticed Allison's car and not Stiles' Jeep but Derek pushed them all back into the house. Derek glanced over his shoulder one last time, Stiles mock saluted him, and they both went their separate ways.

* * *

The pack was not in school the next day but that was probably a good thing because they all would have lectured him on the Adderall/coffee cocktail he was downing to keep himself awake. They were in school the day after that and they all thanked him for keeping Derek safe. They also all lectured him about how he should not have put himself in danger like that either which Stiles politely ignored. Allison smiled at him in class though so Stiles figured they were on better terms. If nothing else he knew now that Allison was going to keep to the code and that meant that they had a lot less to worry about.

If nothing else Stiles was supremely annoyed about the cut on his leg. Bill hit him in a place that hurt no matter how he moved and his pants rubbed against it so it was just not healing as fast as he wanted. His face was also covered in bruises and various cuts from Bill's fists and his face plant in the forest. His leg muscles were sore from sprinting too far and too fast. Fortunately his dad took the 'it was lacrosse' excuse in stride but that did not make it any less painful. Stiles had just settled down for a night with Netflix when there was a tapping at his window. Stiles tilted his head and he could see Derek outside.

"You can come in," he said. Derek opened the window and as soon as he stepped into the room Stiles could see how awkward he was. "Did something happen with the pack?"

"No, no, everyone is fine," Derek replied. Derek looked like he was having a very hard time trying to form a coherent sentence which was a little endearing. "Look, about the other night, where we-" Derek cut himself and heaved a heavy sigh. Stiles knew what he was trying to talk about now. "I just wanted to tell you that-"

"Do you want to watch a movie?" Stiles interrupted Derek's half form sentences. Derek blinked and stared at him.

"What?"

"I said 'do you want to watch a movie?' I'm kind of bored and my dad isn't home so I wouldn't mind the company," Stiles asked.

"Yeah, okay, we can watch a movie," Derek said. Stiles grinned and moved over on his bed to make room for Derek balancing his laptop on his knees. Derek took off his jacket, kicked off his shoes and sat down next to Stiles. He was a warm presence but it did not feel like he was burning up like before.

"We're going to watch Cabin in the Woods because I know you're going to love it," Stiles said as he scrolled through the movies. Derek took the wrist he was not using in hand and Stiles watched as Derek's veins turned black. The aches from the night before faded and Stiles felt like he could relax. The movie started and Derek released his wrist but when their hands fell on the bed their pinkies were touching.

Derek did not move away and Stiles smiled.

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